


Now the wren has gone to roost

by Zoanzon



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), The Blacklist (TV)
Genre: 2x06, A House Fractured, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternative Perspective, Gen, Grant Ward Redemption, He'll never be perfectly clean (but he'd never believe it anyways), Mostly of Coulson's SHIELD and Coulson himself, Or at least the possibility, this Grant is bad and has done bad but that doesn't mean he's set to be totally evil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-29 07:08:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7674922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoanzon/pseuds/Zoanzon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The phrase "I've got red on my ledger. Now I need to wipe it out." can fit to more than one person in the Marvel Universe, if only they're shown the possibility and given the opportunity.</p><p>(Or: Grant Ward is lying in his cell when he gets a visitor who points some things out, and presents him with a choice.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Now the wren has gone to roost

**Author's Note:**

> I was reading a rather interesting Tumblr post exploring the parallels between Agents of SHIELD and The Blacklist when that and a few random thoughts on characters taking control of their stories and working past their pasts collided, and this was born.
> 
> I punched it out in around 40 minutes so it's rough and likely needs to be looked at again at some point, but I figured if I didn't post it now I never would.
> 
> Title is from Ray Lamontagme's "Old Before Your Time".

“Have you ever thought of redemption?”

Grant Ward looked up at the person who’d deigned to visit him and raised an eyebrow. The man was middle aged, dressed in a suit with a fedora on his head; perhaps a higher official in Coulson’s new SHIELD, come to look at Coulson's pet prisoner.

“What are you talking about?” He said, looking at his visitor. Any change from the monotony was welcome.

“Redemption,” the man told him. “A bad upbringing that did damage, followed by being taken in and molded to be the perfect tool for another’s goals. Now, adrift, with no goal guiding you. Have you ever thought of redemption?”

Grant had stilled as the man spoke before slowly saying, “I doubt the others would care for that; would tarnish their image of me being the despicable monster and them being the knights in armor, trying to protect the world from the forces threatening it.”

The figure hummed in response and sat in the chair, still looking at Grant. After a moment, “Coulson and the rest live in denial.”

“About me?”

“About SHIELD.” The figure retorted. “Coulson and the others were protectors of the world, only to find out the ideal was corrupt from the start. Instead of realizing the foundation was built on shifting sand and burning it down to start over and become something new, they live in denial. The world won’t go back to being black and white, there are no more knights in shining armour, but instead of acknowledging that they do bad things in a flawed setup for good reasons, they act like everything they do is for the greater good, no matter how many end up sacrificed or how dark the act. I could probably say a fitting quote about well-intentioned extremists, but I think you get my point.“

Grant thought over the figure’s words with the calm serenity of someone who’s worldview had just been tilted ever so slightly into a new alignment and that it had yet to sink in fully.

“There are two roads ahead of you,” the mystery figure (as he probably wasn’t SHIELD after saying that) continued, the apparent non sequitur breaking him loose from his thoughts for the time being. “On the first path, you get sacrificed in one of those dark acts, a 'dirty traitor' given over to his brother to further SHIELD’s goals, regardless of what that’ll mean for you.“

His blood ran cold at the statement, at the possibility that Coulson would do that, wishing it would never happen but knowing Coulson would to help SHIELD, as the figure continued. "The second path is one where you acknowledge there have been dark acts in your past and you look to do some good deeds in the middle of the darkness. You look to wipe the red from your ledger.”

He inhaled at hearing that last phrase, knowing it’s origin and it’s meaning and the relation of it’s original user to Coulson. Skye…well, she’d continue to hate him, but if he worked to do some good, perhaps that might just change. And if she'd hate him on both paths, then at least he’d be trying to do something good.

“And if I say I want to take the second part, we would be getting out how?” He said slowly, knowing that Coulson and the others wouldn’t exactly agree to let him go, and thus getting out would be a relevant obstacle.

"You let me worry about that,” Raymond Reddington smiled.


End file.
